Posts by Roger Friedman, Showbiz411

Two-time Oscar winner Christoph Waltz got the shock of his life Friday evening on the Croisette — the main boulevard in Cannes.

The "Django Unchained" star was being interviewed on the live TV talk show "Le Grand Journal," an entertainment program that broadcasts from Martinez Beach every day during the Cannes Film Festival, when a man in the audience took out a gun and fired two shots.

"Luckily they [were] blanks," Waltz told Showbiz411.com exclusively. "We thought maybe it was a joke or something to do with Occupy Cannes. I think he was just crazy. They wrestled him to the ground but then he yelled, 'I have a grenade!' That did it."

She's the star of Sofia Coppola's ensemble piece "The Bling Ring," which is about L.A. suburban teens who in real life broke into the homes of several celebrities and stole over $3 million worth of merchandise in 2009. This is not the Hermione of Hogwarts although her character Nicole could use a Quidditch stick to fly away from the police when they come to her house with search warrants.

Last night after the red carpet premiere, W magazine's Stefano Tonchi and Lynn Hirshberg threw Coppola, Watson, and company a splashy soiree on the rooftop of the JW Marriott Hotel on the Croisette.

And Emma was the toast of the party.

When Showbiz411.com mentioned that her performance recalled Nicole Kidman's comic breakthrough in "To Die For" back in 1994, she gasped, "That's what I was going for! I love her in that movie. I'm so glad someone noticed!"

Watson is 23 and not quite finished with her studies at Brown University, but she's getting closer to graduation after taking a little time off.

The so-called conspiracy to kill President John F. Kennedy is coming to the big screen — and not from director Oliver Stone.

About three years ago, Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way production company announced intentions to make a film called "Legacy of Secrecy," which threatened to blow the lid off of what really happened in Dallas in November 1963.

Now DiCaprio's father, George, who put the project together, says the film is finally coming to fruition. George told Showbiz411.com yesterday that "Legacy" follows the saga of FBI informant Jack Van Laningham. DeNiro would play Mafia kingpin Carlos Marcello, who confided to Van Langingham that he ordered the hit on Kennedy. Marcello died in 1993. But back during the days following the assassination, at least a dozen of Marcello's associates were questioned by the FBI. Nevertheless, Marcello's name never appeared in the Warren Report.

Baz Luhrmann's "The Great Gatsby" may have made $51 million in the U.S. last weekend, but it wasn't so popular at the Cannes Film Festival.

At the morning press screening, the movie was met with silence when it ended. Many in attendance didn't stay until the end, leaving before the end credits rolled so they could get a seat at the press conference or perform other personal duties after two hours and 20 minutes.

The hope was that the black tie audience in the Palais later on Wednesday would embrace "Gatsby." Alas, the reaction at the end of that screening — which followed the introduction of the all-star jury, a clip reel saluting Steven Spielberg, and an opening speech given in French by Audrey Tatou — was not much better. "Muted response" is how the polite applause might be described. Indifference would be another. To be quite honest, "Gatsby" received one of the milder receptions in the history of Cannes opening nights.